Speaker
Description
Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are bright bursts of radio emission of millisecond duration and extra-galactic origins. What causes them remains a mystery, although there is a long list of theories that aim to explain them. FRBs have only ever been observed at radio wavelengths, which makes it challenging to rule many of the proposed models out. Observing FRBs at wavelengths other than the radio would be helpful in narrowing down their possible progenitors. We have been working to observe FRBs simultaneously at radio and optical wavelengths, using MeerKAT and MeerLICHT. MeerLICHT is a 65-cm optical telescope in Sutherland, South Africa, that co-observes with MeerKAT, and presents us with a unique opportunity to search for an optical counterpart to FRBs.
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